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vertical oscillation between Stryd and FR 965

slugwalker
over 1 year ago

As above subject, I observed a rather big difference on running metrics recorded from Stryd compare with FR 965 especially vertical oscillation.  My average VO for 16miles was 4.7cm (VO% 6.5%) from Stryd compare to 6.7cm from FR 965.  It's 42% difference , quite substantial difference,  which is more accurate metric of both? 

Stride length and ground contact time were marginally close to each other though.  

  • +1 over 1 year ago

    The vertical oscillation depends completely on where you try to measure it. Even using Garmin's hardware, vertical oscillation is different depending on whether you estimate it on the wrist using just the watch, at the chest level using HRM strap, or at the waist level using Running Dynamics Pod. And that's perfectly natural, because for example your chest moves up and down a little more than your waist (since your body is somewhat elastic).

    When you estimate vertical oscillation at the end of a moving limb (watch attached to wrist, Stryd attached to foot), the algorithms estimating the vertical oscillation have to try to compensate for the natural up and down movement of the limb itself. It's inexact science at best, and depends on the person and their anatomy.

    All in all, I've found that there's no point in trying to compare different source of vertical oscillation to each other. But that doesn't make following VO useless, because you can still follow your trend and your efforts to minimize vertical oscillation.

    This is one of the main reasons why I always wear my HRM Pro+ while running. I want to record consistent VO, and the same applies to running power etc. But I don't always wear the strap when I'm trail running, because there both VO and running power are random anyway (because of the random terrain).

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Bitti

    Well explained and thanks.  Yes, I will stick to one device or two to evaluate the improvement of VO and running gait over time. I have improved the cadence to be consistent close to180 spm +/-, just that my stride length is my weakness. I may have swing my arms higher thus increase the VO, I have HRM Pro, will test it out in my next run. Thanks again for sharing the insight